Photo by: Andrea Leopardi/Unsplash
There used to be a poster you'd see in running stores (because Al Gore hadn't invented the internets yet so we could have memes) that had two photos: one was a long road stretching out into the distance and the caption was, "My gym," the second was a pair of worn out running shoes falling apart from many a hard mile and its caption was, "My dues." Well, I have started paying my dues alright.
This morning my goal was simple, walk 1.5 miles in less than 24 minutes so that I would have a sub 16:00 pace. I checked my phone after one block and I was right on target, so I thought, "hey, I got this." I was so confident in my improved pace that I didn't check again until the half-way point when, gasp, I looked down and I was averaging 16:26! This was bad news not only because I didn't know if I could make up that much time (I wasn't exactly lollygagging after all) but I would have to make it up on the portion of the route where I had to go UP HILL for three blocks.
Head down and knees up I pushed hard for the remaining .75 miles literally gasping for air when I reached the top of the last hill and turned for home. When my app finally rolled over to 1.5 miles I had done it, my pace was 15:55. So, lesson learned to check my pace early and often and another installment of Leadville 100 dues paid in full.
Happy trails!